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Saturday 25 December 2010

WOODHEAD XMAS QUIZ -Woodhead By Numbers - ANSWERS










Welcome back and Happy Christmas to all our readers and supporters.

If you've arrived here at the answers page without taking the two part quiz, you can skip back to it using these links:-

PART ONE

PART TWO

otherwise...

As promised, here are the answers to the Woodhead By Numbers Xmas Quiz, posted nice and early on this crisp and even and bloomin freezing Christmas morn. Good luck.


A1
- 45 (ie: 1845)

A2 - 115 (1868-1983)

A3 - 60 (Tunnel 1 1845 - 26 deaths/Tunnel 2 1849 - 28/Tunnel 3 1953 - 6)

A4 - 30

A5 - 200

Thus SUBTOTAL 1 should equal 450

A6 - 54 (ie:1954)

A7 - 76

A8 - 65

A9 - 77

A10 - 90

SUBTOTAL 2 = 362 - Therefore the correct score at the halfway point came to 812

A11 - 1,550 (volts direct current)

A12 - 1957

A13 - 25 (kV overhead)

A14 - The princely sum of £1

A15 - 400(kV)


SUBTOTAL 3 = 3883 - Therefore at the 3/4 mark the correct tally to now stands at 4695.

A16 - 70 (ie: 1970)

A17 - 84 (I have seen various wrong answers to this posted on different websites but who can argue with this definitive link?:

http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=34592&SESSION=891

A18 - 1270

A19 - 165

A20 - 35

SUBTOTAL 4 thus equals 1597 - So finally we get to add it all up as follows:-

SUBTOTAL 1 - 450
SUBTOTAL 2 - 362
SUBTOTAL 3 - 3883
SUBTOTAL 4 - 1597

GRAND TOTAL 6,292

If you actually managed to arrive at exactly the right total, then absolutely fantastic and really well done - I think your name must be Alan Whitehouse then!

For those of us who are less than perfect or just mere mortals, give yourself a pat on the back if you managed to fall within any of the following standards:

Award yourself a Gold Star if you got within 2% either way, that is between 6166 - 6418

Award yourself a Silver Star if you got within 5% either way, that is between 5977 - 6607

Award yourself a Bronze Star if you got within 10% either way, that is between 5663 - 6921

If you didn't quite make the very exacting standard required to earn a Star in our Woodhead By Numbers Christmas Quiz, then don't worry because you're clearly in need of further education about the line, so you've come to the right blogspot.

Not only is the blog packed full of information but there are regular updates which you can follow by entering your e-mail address and if you scroll down the right hand panel you will find links to other Woodhead related sites and to numerous press articles.

Expect a lot of blog activity in 2011 and a record number of posts during the next 12 months as we continue the push the case to Re-open the Woodhead Line regardless of Ministerial attitudes and Treasury cutbacks - there is both a business case and a common sense case for the re-instatement of this line.

Thank you all for taking the time to do our quiz (a hard one I think). Please bookmark us and visit us again soon. Also if you have any news or views to share or things you would like to appear on the blog then let us know. If we don't blog before the New Year - have a good one.

Thursday 23 December 2010

Xmas Quiz - Woodhead By Numbers - part 2










For those of you who missed part one, click here for Questions 1-10 then rejoin us once you have your interim score. Just to recap, all the answers to the questions are in the form of a number. Moreover, the ultimate answer to the quiz is also a number ie: the sum of your answers to all 20 questions. Your aim is to get as close to the target figure as possible. Here we go then:-

Q11 - The Manchester-Wath electrification project was energised at how many volts direct current?

Q12 - The year in which Crowden Station closed (all four digits).

Q13 - In 1984 the remaining section of the line (Hadfield to Manchester) was converted to how many kV overhead?

Q14 - In 1990 National Grid bought the 1954 tunnel from British Rail for how many pounds sterling?

Q15 - Since 1963 the north tunnel has been used by the National Grid to carry the trans-Pennine ??? kV electricity link below ground under the Peak District National Park. Replace the ??? with a three digit answer.

A small interlude now follows as you sum your answers for questions 11-15 to create SUB-TOTAL 3. Finished. Good. Now for the run-in......

Q16 - The line was closed to passengers in which year? Last two digits only.

Q17 - On the 4th December 2007, how many MPs signed an early day motion in the commons brought by Manchester Blackley MP, Graham Stringer, expressing concern at laying cables in a viable tunnel for rail traffic.

Q18 - Catherine Bone's No.10 petition calling for the re-opening of the Manchester-Sheffield line via Woodhead received how many signatures?

Q19 - How many millions did National Grid exageratedly claim it would cost to refurbish the old tunnels?

Q20 - and finally... according to the 2001 Arriva proposal, the use of Woodhead could reduce Manchester to Sheffield journeys times to how many minutes.

==============================

Time to sum up your answers for questions 16-20 to give you SUB-TOTAL 4

Now simply add SUB-TOTALS 3 and 4 together. That gives you a score for today.

Finally add yesterday's score to todays score to arrive at your GRAND TOTAL, which is in fact your answer to the quiz.

As I know you all can't wait a moment longer than necessary for the answers (and my suggested GRAND SCORE) I shall schedule them to be available first thing Christmas morning.

That is to say after Santa has arrived but before the kids and the dog arise. So whilst they are opening their presents, you can sneak off to the computer for a quick peek at the result.

Good luck with the quiz and may I take this opportunity to wish all our readers and supporters a very merry Christmas. I'll be back with the answers early on the 25th.

WOODHEAD BY NUMBERS - XMAS QUIZ 2010










Hi everyone and welcome back,

Today we have a little Christmas treat for all our readers entitled Woodhead By Numbers. Its a quiz but one with a difference. That difference being that all the answers are represented by a number. The ultimate answer to the quiz is also therefore represented by a number - that number being the sum of all the answers and which will be revealed at the end of the quiz.

Your task is to get as close to the final declared number as possible. Naturally, if you get them all right you will have it bang on but you'll be lucky - or extremely knowledgeable about the subject of Woodhead.

Alternatively you can of course score it the traditional boring way by just counting up your correct answers then arguing with the question master to chisel an extra half point like they do in pubs!

Ready? Then summon up your calculator (if you really can't add up) and put your thinking caps on now. Away we go for the first instalment of Woodhead By Numbers:

Q1 - The last two digits of the year in which the first of Woodhead's two single bores opened to traffic.

Q2 - The number of years that Deepcar station was open.

Q3 - The sum total of lives lost during the construction of the three tunnels.

Q4 - 17th July 2011 will represent how many years since a Harwich ferry train became the last service ever to pass through the tunnel?

Q5 - The gradient towards Dunford Bridge at its east end is 1 in how many? - choose from the following: 1:100 1:200 1:500 1:1,000

OK its calculator time. Add up your first five answers to give yourself SUB TOTAL 1

Once you've done that and put it in your digital memory bank or just scribbled it on a bit of paper in the customary traditional way, as most of us do, you can move onto Question 6:
==================================================================

Q6 - The new double track tunnel took 5 years to build. The ribbon was cut by Transport Minister Alan Lennox-Boyd on the 3rd of July 19xx? The last two digits only please.

Q7 - New electric freight train locomotives were constructed at Gorton, Manchester and were known as the EM1 - but what was the Class Number?

Q8 - And what was the maximum speed (miles per hour) of the EM1?

Now for a little deja vu.....

Q9 - New electric passenger train locomotives were constructed at Gorton, Manchester and were known as the EM2 - but what was the Class Number?

Q10 - And what was the maximum speed (miles per hour) of the EM2?

Now add up your answers to questions 6-10 to give yourself SUB TOTAL 2.

Finally, as you might have guessed, simply add together your two sub totals to give yourself a numerical answer to the whole of todays questions and which you will carrry forward to the second half of the quiz that follows tomorrow. See you back here soon.

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Wednesday 15 December 2010

NO MEETING THIS MONTH









Unfortunately, due to circumstances beyond our control, mainly logistical and practical ones, there will be no December meeting of the Re-open Woodhead Line group. Business will be resumed, as per usual, on the third Thursday in January, which I make the 20th January 2011. A reminder will of course be posted nearer the time.

There will however be further blog posts to look out for very soon, starting with our Christmas Quiz, entitled Woodhead By Numbers, coming to you throughout next week, so stay tuned for that. To make sure you don't miss the quiz, simply enter your e-mail address to the right of this post and you will automatically receive future blogs straight to the address provided.